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RMGMDPunk

One Piece: Unlimited World R Review (PS3)

One Piece: Unlimited World R is originally a 3DS game. This commonly known fact has been constantly ignored by other reviewers and the majority of the fanbase even though it's actually crucial to how this game should be viewed. I'm going to give this game two scores. One score will be how I view this game as a One Piece fan and the other score is how I view this game as a gamer.

One Piece: UWR is considered to be the next entry in the Unlimited series of One Piece games. Ever since the release of Unlimited Adventure for the Wii back in 2007 it's obvious what genre these games are: Action/RPG. Because of this, the rosters have never been anything too crazy or large but this is balanced out by the fact that every character plays differently. One Piece: UWR continues that formula in every way.

Story:

-Warning: Spoilers May Be Included in this Section-

One Piece: Unlimited World Red like so many games before it follows an original story. Of course this can lead to something good or bad. This game features two characters that were actually designed by Eiichiro Oda himself. Patrick Redfield or Red the Aloof serves as the game's main antagonist and Pato, his ally. The game opens up however with Pato magically already with the Strawhat Crew. He's leading them towards an island where he promised to meet a certain "someone". This island becomes the main setting for the entire game. Oddly enough the island itself is never named but there is a central town that serves as the game's hub. The town is called "Transtown". Almost right after the crew arrives they fall directly into Red's trap.

It is revealed that using Pato, Red can tap into the memories of others and recreate not only areas that they have traveled to but the powerful enemies they have fought as well. Using this power Red recreates many famous One Piece areas including Alabasta, Skypeia, and Marineford. This also leads to boss battles with famous villains such as Crocodile and Blackbeard. Red's overall goal is to find a devil fruit known as the Bat Bat Fruit Model: Vampire. It's never explained where he finds it, but he does. However as is expected, he is defeated by the crew and Luffy shows him the power of nakama! The game ends with the Strawhat Pirates going on to their next adventure while Red remarks of a fresh start.

I'll be honest here, the story of this game isn't anything that we haven't seen before. While Red is a great villain and his design really sets him apart, he's never truly fleshed out as a character. His reasoning for being a villain is also insanely basic: he wants to keep a youthful appearance and become the Pirate King. And honestly, these are the same villains that we've fought in all the games, minus Hody and Ceasar who make rare appearances in this game.

-End Spoilers-

Gameplay:

There are two major aspects to the gameplay of this One Piece game: Combat and Exploration. First I'll talk about the Combat because it's honestly the bigger of the two obviously. All of the combat in this game is done with four buttons. Using the square and triangle buttons you are able to perform your basic attacks and combos. Using the circle button you are able to dodge or counter attacks from your enemies and using all the face buttons in combination with the R1 button you can execute your special attacks. It's a basic combat system that doesn't take long to get used to which makes the game incredibly appealing.

Exploration takes up the other majority of the gameplay in this game and that's incredibly fitting considering the source material. I found myself running around the Mt. Corvo map for at least twenty minutes just taking in all of the scenery and seeing what kind of secrets that I could uncover. There are some areas of the game that you cannot access without certain characters which encourages the player to return to areas that they have previously explored to find new secrets and items. As this is a RPG you are expected to find a multitude of different items ranging from herbs to craft healing items to soap bubbles found on Fishman Island that can have different uses throughout Transtown.

Transtown itself as I stated before is the main hub of the game. It's where you start the game and it's where you'll travel to the other areas such as Punk Hazard and Enies Lobby. However Transtown features different buildings that can offer you different services. The catch is, you have to build it! That's right, using the materials that you gather while exploring other areas in the game you build different buildings such as a Factory and Pharmacy to help you get better materials to progress through the game. This is another incredibly large part of the game but in all honesty, not many of the buildings are required. I do recommend upgrading them as much as you can because they can provide you with items that'll make the later levels easier.

Like all RPGs, this game has side quests. These side quests are broken into different sections based on difficulty. You start off with East Blue difficulty. Most of these quests will have you finding items but there are some side quests that you battle bosses again. There are even some bosses in the side quests that aren't featured in the main story such as Law. The rewards for the side quests are usually Strong Words and/or crafting items. You also gain XP for doing them so ignoring side quests isn't the best option.

This game also features another unique gameplay aspect known as Strong Words. These are items that you can find in the game that upgrade the stats of a certain character. You are required to find some to progress through the levels but for the most part they are entirely optional. Each Strong Word has a different ability though some do serve similar purposes. Upgrading them is also pretty important but be warned that upgrading the Strong Words uses the same materials as upgrading the town and your Bug Catching Net and the Fishing Pole. Keep this in mind when deciding what is the most important thing to you at the time.

The last gameplay aspect I want to talk about is the mini games. There are a few mini games that you can find around the world of One Piece: Unlimited World R. The two major mini games are fishing and bug catching. The reason that these two are so important is because the bugs and fish that you find can be used as crafting materials! Other mini games serve little to no purpose like grabbing balloons or doing a face match game.

However, this is another game mode that I would like to talk about before moving on.

Coliseum Mode

In addition to the main story mode, all versions of Unlimited World R also feature Coliseum Mode. While in Japan the original version of this game didn't feature it, it was added as a free update. The amazing thing about this mode is that it features other playable characters outside of the Strawhat crew. Law, Ace, Whitebeard, Crocodile, Shanks and even Doflamingo make up some of the added playable characters. However, aside from Luffy and Law ALL of the other characters are locked. Unlocking them typically isn't hard and can be done shortly after clearing Coliseum mode (some characters can't be unlocked until its beaten).

Coliseum Mode features 4 different fighting options. The first is duels which are exactly what they sound like. One on one fights. Once you beat Coliseum mode though, you can select your opponent. This can help if you need to perform certain battles to unlock item packs or "boss quest" for the main game. The second is Scramble which will pit you and a partner against a bunch of generics. The third is Battle Royale which will either put you in a two on two boss battle or have you fight one boss along with some generics. The final game mode is a Boss Rush mode which has you go against 5-6 bosses back to back.

Initially Coliseum Mode has a story and it's loosely based off of the Dressrosa arc, which is currently ongoing in both the anime and the manga. However...

-Warning: Spoilers May Be Included in this Section-

This game mode gives the player a HUGE middle finger. You beat a bunch of battles, unlock a few characters and suddenly a scripted boss battle against Fujitora happens and you are forced to START OVER. For a lot of people, including HystericalGamez, hate this about the mode and honestly I think it's pretty stupid myself. However, Coliseum Mode is still enjoyable for me especially after getting the chance to play as Doflamingo and Fujitora for the first time.

-End Spoilers-

Graphics and Music

Due to the blog's character limit I will have to keep this short: Graphics are good. Music is decent.

Conclusion and Scores

Sadly this section also suffers from the character limit. But here are the scores:

First up, the score for a One Piece Fan:

7.5/10

Secondly, the score for the average gamer:

6/10

Why? While this is a good One Piece game it's not perfect. The story is weak and the dodge/counter feature isn't nearly as responsive as it should be. However the presentation of the game and sheer amount of content for the fans makes it worth picking up. Don't ignore this game just because someone says it looks funny or because it doesn't have a huge roster. This isn't a Naruto Storm game. This isn't a Dragonball Z Budokai game. This IS NOT A FIGHTING GAME!!! This is an Action/RPG and should be treated as such. Coliseum Mode is both a plus and a negative because of the spoiler reason that I gave above.